19th December

¹ Then Job answered and said,² Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.³ Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!⁴ I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.⁵ I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.⁶ Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.⁷ There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.⁸ Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:⁹ On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:¹⁰ But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.¹¹ My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.¹² Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.¹³ But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.¹⁴ For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.¹⁵ Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.¹⁶ For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:¹⁷ Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

¹ Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?² Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.³ They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.⁴ They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.⁵ Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.⁶ They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.⁷ They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.⁸ They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.⁹ They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.¹⁰ They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;¹¹ Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.¹² Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.¹³ They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.¹⁴ The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.¹⁵ The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.¹⁶ In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.¹⁷ For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.¹⁸ He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.¹⁹ Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.²⁰ The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.²¹ He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.²² He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.²³ Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.²⁴ They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.²⁵ And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

¹ In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,² The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.³ Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.⁴ Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.⁵ Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?⁶ But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.⁷ Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,⁸ I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.⁹ Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.¹⁰ And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.¹¹ And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.¹² Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?¹³ And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.¹⁴ So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.¹⁵ And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.¹⁶ Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.¹⁷ Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.¹⁸ Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.¹⁹ And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.²⁰ And the LORD shewed me four carpenters.²¹ Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

¹ The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;² For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.³ Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.⁴ I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.⁵ And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.⁶ And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.⁷ For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.⁸ Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.⁹ Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.¹⁰ If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:¹¹ For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.¹² Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.¹³ The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.

¹ The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.² Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.³ For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.⁵ Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;⁶ Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:⁷ Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.⁸ We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.⁹ I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.¹⁰ Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.¹¹ Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.¹² Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.¹³ I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee:¹⁴ But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.